The Traitor, once known as the Lord of Winter's Peace, was a noble eladrin and Keeper of the Cerulean Sign stationed in the Spire of Winter's Peace.[1] He was stripped of his name and rank after he joined the Abolethic Sovereignty as its high priest, becoming the most important prisoner in Stardeep up until the Spellplague.[3]
Description[]
After his death, the Traitor's petrified body resembled a male elf whose lower half had been replaced by a morass of tentacles, some of them dozens of feet long.[4] To Japheth, he resembled a half-man half-aboleth, and the stone of his petrified body resembled darkness. His eyes were as two cinders.[2]
Personality[]
Before his capture, the Traitor was, per Malyanna, a fool, but one who believed truly in the Eldest's role as the bringer of apocalypse.[1]
After his capture, the Traitor became an endlessly scheming, tireless monster concerned only with breaching his prison and bringing about the end of all things. He had attempted to kill himself a few times in order to rouse the Abolethic Sovereignty, and after constant measures were placed to interfere with that, he devised ever more complicated schemes,[3] some of which started even before the last one had failed.[5]
Abilities[]
After his pact, the Traitor gained immunity to all physical needs, never again drinking, eating, or sleeping. His personal power was mind-boggling, being able to single-handedly hold all of Stardeep's forces at bay.[6] Even when captured, he was constantly testing new strategems in order to breach containment.[3] His Final Pact of Apoapsis also meant his death would raise the city of Xxiphu to the surface.[7]
While ensconced in his prison, the Traitor dwelled in a realm separate where its mind alone could effect changes upon its surroundings; his influence in fact extended even beyond the wards trapping him, allowing him to twist people around him, including Keeper Telarian.[5] It was capable of creating dreamspawned monsters that mutated continuously until destroyed.[8] Even upon death, the Traitor's gaze could strike at Japheth as a bizarre mental attack through wards once believed just short of impenetrable.[2]
Possessions[]
At the time of his death, the Traitor was holding a Key of Stars in his fist, which, under posthumous divination, he claimed he'd held throughout his imprisonment.[2]
Activities[]
After his capture, he did nothing other than trying to escape, continuously devising stratagems to get out and unleash the Sovereignty.[3]
Relationships[]
The noble eladrin Malyanna was his acolyte, student, accomplice and castellan. She finally became his successor both as master of the Spire and servant of the Sovereignty.[1]
History[]
The Traitor was originally the master of the Spire of Winter's Peace, one of the towers keeping watch over Forever's Edge. After he gazed for too long over the Edge, he was seduced into service by the Abolethic Sovereignty- or perhaps, he was already compromised before joining. When he left the watch to try and rouse the aboleths, he was discovered and imprisoned in a splinter of the Feywild called Stardeep,[1] a demiplane laid close to Sildëyuir[2][note 2] and guarded by the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign.[3]
Sometime on or after the year 1360 DR, the Traitor was almost successful in a bid for escape, forcing Cynosure, Kiril Duskmourn and Nangulis to transform one of them into a weapon: the sword Angul.[6] Though the sword contained and weakened him, he immediately began a second stratagem, involving then-Empyrean Knight Telarian, who wouldn't become a Keeper until years after; by twisting the Knight's dreams, the Traitor made him try to slay him after Midwinter of the Year of Risen Elfkin, 1375 DR using a newly developed weapon made from the leftovers of Nangulis' soul after the forging of Angul: the Blade Umbral, Nis. The attempt failed at the last moment, due to the intervention of Raidon Kane and Gage of Laothkund.[5]
The Traitor died during the Spellplague of Year of Blue Fire, 1385 DR, after successfully fleeing the destruction of Stardeep due to the unraveling of The Weave; the demiplane disappeared from Sildëyuir and slipped back to the Feywild. While in the Feywild, a Forest Monarch tree captured him, and sacrificed itself to petrify the two of them, leaving the Final Pact of Apoapsis untriggered even though Malyanna confirmed he was dead roughly a decade later, in 1396 DR.[4]
Rumors & Legends[]
Some star elves believed the Traitor was actually an inhabitant of Sildëyuir, a realm inhabited only by star elves.[6] They also centered the threat he presented on star elves themselves.[9][note 1]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Traitor is implied to have been a star elf in Stardeep, but he is explicitly stated to be an eladrin by Taal's account in Key of Stars. This, and the fact that he has lived in the Tower of Winter's Peace leads to the conclusion that he is in fact an Eladrin.
- ↑ While it isn't obvious that Stardeep is in a demiplane, Ch. 12 of Key of Stars describes the environs around the destroyed Stardeep as a "dying demiplane", leading to the conclusion adopted in this article- that Stardeep was, in fact, within a demiplane.
Appearances[]
- Novels
- Stardeep • Key of Stars
- Referenced only
- Darkvision • Plague of Spells
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bruce R. Cordell (September 2010). Key of Stars. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 978-0786956289.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Bruce R. Cordell (September 2010). Key of Stars. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 978-0786956289.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Bruce R. Cordell (October 2007). Stardeep. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 1, pp. 1–12. ISBN 978-0-7869-4338-8.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bruce R. Cordell (September 2010). Key of Stars. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 978-0786956289.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Bruce R. Cordell (October 2007). Stardeep. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 28, pp. 302–303. ISBN 978-0-7869-4338-8.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Bruce R. Cordell (October 2007). Stardeep. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 6, pp. 63–66. ISBN 978-0-7869-4338-8.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell (October 2007). Stardeep. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 28, p. 293. ISBN 978-0-7869-4338-8.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell (October 2007). Stardeep. (Wizards of the Coast), chaps. 150–155, p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7869-4338-8.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell (2006). Darkvision. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 227, p. 24. ISBN 0-7869-4017-4.